Movers & Shakers
John B. Sivertsen has joined Ranstad North America as its associate general counsel.
Upcoming Event
TexasBarCLE 23rd Annual Entertainment Law Institute
Features
Transformative Use Musings
The California Supreme Court has accepted "transformative use" as a First Amendment defense to a right-of-publicity claim for more than a decade. The issue recently came up before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in the class action suit by former college athletes who claim Electronic Arts (EA) violated their rights of publicity with the NCAA Football video game.
Columns & Departments
Correction
The Cameo Clips column in the August 2013 issue of Entertainment Law & Finance incorrectly reported the name of the deciding court in Faulkner Literary…
Features
Maddeningly Mismated Matches
In paired opinions rendered the same day by the same judge, the Ninth Circuit reached seemingly directly contrary conclusions in virtually identical cases concerning the balancing of intellectual property rights and First Amendment interests.
Features
FACE Act Introduced
The Forbidding Advertisement Through Child Exploitation Act (FACE Act) of 2013 was introduced in Congress on July 10, 2013 by U.S. Congressman John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-N) to help protect the personal privacy of children and teens.
Features
Alternative Fee Agreements
There have been a spate of reports the last few months on alternative fee agreements, or AFAs as they are also known. Subsequently these have stirred a tremendous amount of conversation in the industry. Some of the conversation is helpful, some of it is constructively critical, and some of it is quite simply confusing.
Features
Forensic and e-Discovery Tools to Help Win Your Case
Winning or losing your client's case often rests on your ability to prove facts that support your client's position. Subject-matter expert witnesses play a prominent role in interpreting the facts available to them and helping the trier of fact reach a conclusion on the meaning of such information. Forensic and e-discovery experts are no different than any other experts in that their opinions can only be as solid as the information they can find and analyze.
Features
FTC Warns Big Data Companies on Consumer Privacy
Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez last month issued a stern warning to U.S. companies that house vast amounts of consumers' personal data: Watch out.
Features
Taking Control of Your Partner Education Program
After three years of law school, hours spent studying for the Bar exam, and many years toiling away at the associate ranks, new partners often believe that there is nothing new they need to be taught about being a principle of a law firm. The resistance to spending time in a classroom is palpable. It is viewed as tedious and, since partners are rarely compensated for learning or personal development, they are less inclined to "waste" their time.
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MOST POPULAR STORIES
- Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent TrollsWith trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.Read More ›
- Risks of “Baseball Arbitration” in Resolving Real Estate Disputes“Baseball arbitration” refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party enters a final submission and during a formal hearing each side — player and management — presents its case and then the designated panel of arbitrators chooses one of the salary bids with no other result being allowed. This method has become increasingly popular even beyond the sport of baseball.Read More ›
- Private Equity Valuation: A Significant DecisionInsiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.Read More ›
- The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year LaterThe DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.Read More ›
- The DOJ Goes Phishing: The Rise of False Claims Act Cybersecurity LitigationWhile the DOJ Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative is still in its early stages and cybersecurity regulations are evolving, whistleblower plaintiffs have already begun leveraging the FCA to pursue alleged noncompliance with government cybersecurity requirements.Read More ›